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How to Use Pixel Proactive Assistance with Gemini

Turn on Pixel Proactive Assistance so Gemini can suggest restaurants, loyalty cards, and call context from your screen and apps.

September 26, 2026 Yum News

Pixel 11 phones can surface help before you open Gemini. Proactive Assistance reads the screen, notifications, location, and apps you connect, then offers a short suggestion you can tap, hold, or ignore.

Google documents this as a Pixel 11-series feature, not a general Android 17 switch. You need Gemini as the default assistant, Personal Intelligence on, and a personal Google Account. This guide follows the official Pixel Phone Help steps so you can enable it, pick data sources, and turn it off per app when a suggestion is too nosy.

Who can use it

Official requirements from Google:

Age 18 or over, signed into a personal Google Account.
Hardware: Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, or Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
Countries and languages listed on the help page: Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States (English only); Japan (Japanese only).

If your phone is a Pixel 10, treat reports of a settings page on Android 17 QPR2 Beta 5 as a preview. Google’s published help page still names the Pixel 11 family only.

You also need Gemini set as the default digital assistant. On Pixel 9 and later, Gemini is usually already the default, but confirm it after a factory reset or if you switched back to Google Assistant.

Person holding a smartphone with a messaging app open

What the suggestions actually do

Google groups Proactive Assistance into a few surfaces.

Chat apps. In Google Messages and other chat apps, Gemini can propose a restaurant when a friend texts about dinner, or pull details you can share without leaving the thread.

Phone app. When you call someone tied to an email or contact, you can get context such as a reservation or last interaction. For a business call, the sheet can show details that already exist in connected mail or calendar data.

Weather. Personalized insights can summarize conditions against upcoming events and locations. Google says this path uses connected apps such as Calendar and Gmail.

Maps, shopping, and streaming. Suggestions can appear inside those apps. Press and hold a suggestion to see where it came from, send feedback, or change settings.

At a Glance (preview). Meal ideas at restaurants or loyalty cards at some grocery stores and pharmacies can appear on the lock-screen / home-screen glance widget. Google requires the precise location permission on the Google app for this preview.

A restaurant card in Messages and a loyalty-card prompt at a store are the two examples Google puts on the help page. Treat everything else as optional extras that appear only when those data sources are on.

If you turn the feature on for the phone, Google says you may also see suggestions on companion devices such as a watch. Change those on each device.

Turn on Gemini, Personal Intelligence, and the feature

Proactive Assistance does not work unless two other switches are already correct.

Set Gemini as the default assistant

Open Settings.
Tap Apps → Assistant → Digital assistants from Google.
Select Gemini.

Connect Personal Intelligence apps

Open the Gemini app.
Tap the menu, then your profile picture or initial.
Open Personal Intelligence → Connected Apps.
Connect only the sources you want: Contacts, Google Photos (if listed), Google Workspace, Search services, or YouTube.
Follow any extra permission screens.

You do not need every toggle. Google notes that more sources usually mean more frequent and more accurate suggestions. Few sources mean fewer chips.

Enable Proactive Assistance

Open Settings.
Tap Proactive Assistance.
Turn Use Proactive Assistance on.
Tap Connected apps and enable only the extras you want, such as Messages and Screenshots.

That Settings page is the master switch. If the row is missing, you are outside the supported Pixel 11 list, country, language, or age gate.

Control it per app

Google lets you cut screen access without killing the whole feature.

Open Settings → Apps.
Select the app.
Under App info → Screen access, turn Proactive Assistance off.

Use this for banking, health, work-profile tools, and any chat app you do not want scanned for restaurant names. Leave Messages on if that is the main place you want dinner suggestions.

Location still matters for At a Glance cards. If those lock-screen prompts feel wrong, revoke precise location for the Google app and leave the rest of Proactive Assistance on.

For floating windows while a suggestion is on screen, Android 17 App Bubbles are a separate system control. See How to Use Android 17 App Bubbles for Faster Multitasking if you want Messages parked at the edge instead of full screen.

Smartphone on a wooden desk next to a notebook

How to work with a suggestion

When a chip or card appears:

Tap it to open the related app, map, wallet pass, or reservation flow.
Press and hold it to inspect the source, send feedback, or jump to settings.
Ignore it. Nothing is booked until you confirm a later action.

Do not treat a suggestion as a completed booking. Multi-step Gemini tasks still stop for a final confirmation. Proactive Assistance is the prompt layer; you still own the tap that sends a reservation or shares a flight card.

If you already use the Gemini overlay for “ask about this screen,” keep that for questions you type. Proactive Assistance is for chips that appear without a prompt. The overlay minimize bubble is covered in How to Minimize Gemini Overlay on Android.

Watch Gemini Intelligence suggestions on Pixel 11

This official Android clip shows the Pixel 11 pattern: a flight card in Messages and a one-tap reservation handoff while you stay in the chat.

Tips that keep suggestions useful

Start with Messages and Contacts only. Add Workspace after a week if the chips are too thin.
Leave Screenshots off unless you actually want Gemini to read captured images.
Review At a Glance separately. Precise location is a higher bar than on-screen chat context.
Work accounts are not the path Google documents. Use a personal account on the phone that owns the feature.
If chips never appear, confirm English (or Japanese in Japan), the Pixel 11 model name in Settings → About phone, and that Personal Intelligence is not empty.
Give feedback from the long-press sheet when a restaurant card is wrong. That is the control Google points to, not a hidden Gemini Gem.

What this is not

Proactive Assistance is not Call for Me. It does not place a phone call or wait on hold. It is not Device Help, the Labs tool that explains Settings. It is not Magic Cue on Pixel 10 under a new name in Google’s current help text, even if reviewers compare the two.

It also does not replace Find Hub remembered items. Those notes are something you dictate. Proactive chips are inferred from live context.

Conclusion

On a supported Pixel 11, turn Gemini on as the assistant, connect a short Personal Intelligence list, then flip Settings → Proactive Assistance. Keep Messages and one location source if you want dinner and store cards. Shut screen access off for any app you would not show a colleague over your shoulder.

Use the long-press menu on the first few chips. If the source list looks broader than you intended, disconnect that app the same day. The feature is useful when the suggestion saves a context switch. It is noise when every text sprouts a card you have to dismiss.